Campfire Tails
by vintagegamenerd46
Summary: Sonic and Tails decide to spend 3 days visiting Knuckles on Angel island, and all is well, until Knuckles tells Tails some of the Legends of Angel Island and scares Tails into believing it's all real. Now with Tails missing, how will Sonic help the kit?
1. The Legends of Angel Island

I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, and deny any rights to Sega and it's characters. The following story is non- profitable, original, and completely fanmade. Rated S for "Stoopidafied".

"She heard a noise, and turned. Nobody was there. When suddenly, she heard a snarl behind her, and before she could scream or run..."

Knuckles paused , and looked at Tails hugging his Sonic plushie with wide eyes.

"Wh-What happened next, Knuckles?"

Knuckles got closer to Tails and shadows fell over his face as he said,

"It grabbed her ankle, pulled her down, and nobody ever heard from her again."

Tails gasped. "Are you serious?!"

"Of course. Legend says that it attacks every full moon, and once it sees you, nothing can–"

"Knuckles! Tails! What's going on?" Sonic asked coming from a bush.

It was night time, and the color started slowly regaining in Tails' face as his hero neared him.

"I was just telling Tails some legends." Knuckles said with a snicker. Sonic paused.

"Uh-huh... Tails, don't believe anything Knuckles says. He's an idiot."

"Hey, these aren't stupid tall tales, these are the legends of Angel Island."

"Come with me for a second."

Sonic grabbed Knuckles' arm, walked him to a different end of the woods, where Tails was out of earshot.

"Knux, next time, save your "Legends of Angel Island" for when we aren't visiting you here."

"Sorry. Tails wanted to know."

"You know he scares easily!"

"That's what's so great about it!"

"Look, I'm just saying... we're only here for 3 more days. Go easy on him, okay?"

"Whatever.

They walked back to the campsite and Tails jumped as he heard a bush move, and ran to Sonic dropping his plushie and giving him a hug.

"What's up, bro?" Sonic asked

"Sonic! It- I kept hearing things! I wanna go home!" Tails whimpered

"Are you scared, Tails?" Knuckles asked, grinning.

Tails blushed and let go of Sonic

"Of course I'm not scared! I-I mean, it was just a stupid story!"

Knuckles smugly folded his arms.

"Are you sure?"

"Knuckles, that's enough." Sonic said

"I don't mind the stories." Tails said, trying to sound brave

"Hmph. Then you wont mind that, will you?" Knuckles said pointing at a full moon.Tails gasped in shock and horror.

"You're pretty brave, then. Knuckles said.

"Knuckles, back off. Tails, go to bed." Sonic said

Tails quietly nodded, grabbed his plushie, and walked off. Knuckles laughed.

"Goodnight, Sonic."

Sonic shook his head, and walked away.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Tails curled under his blanket and waited for sonic to put out the campfire.

"Night, Tails."

"Night, Sonic." Tails muttered.

Sonic put out the campfire, and Tails felt a chill go down his spine, squeezing his Sonic plushie for dear life. He heard Sonic get comfortable and start snoring. Tails tried to forget the stories and full moon, but then he heard it. Footsteps. He felt his heart pounding quickly and harshly.

'Sonic will protect me... I'll be fine...' Tails told himself

He heard them again, then peeked out of his blanket to see a shadowed figure. Tails gasped, and went back under his blanket, squeezing his Sonic plushie for dear tighter, and sniffling.

'It's all in my head, it's all in my head... knuckles is lying...' he told himself

The footsteps got closer, and Tails felt himself shaking harshly.

Suddenly it grabbed his shoulder, and he shrieked running to Sonic and shaking him awake.

"Huh? Wh-what's up, bro?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic! There's a-a-a- THING! And it grabbed me! A-and I could've died!"

He hugged Sonic, crying, and Sonic sighed and pat him on the back.

"Calm down, bro. You know I'll always be here to protect you..." Sonic said, and Tails could tell that he was kinda annoyed.

"Sonic, I'm scared."

"Calm down, big guy. You can sleep next to me, tonight. Okay?"

"Allright."

"Okay, get your stuff and park it here. I promise nothing'll happen. All right?"

"Okay, Sonic."

Tails grabbed his stuff and put it where Sonic was pointing. Tails got comfortable, and sonic said,

"Don't believe any of Knuckles' stories. He was just out to scare you."

"Okay, Sonic."

Tails closed his eyes, and heard Sonic start to snore again. He calmed down, focusing more on the snoring and stars than the Legends. Suddenly he heard it again. The footsteps. He squeezed his plushie tighter and looked at Sonic.

'If I wake him up again, he's going to kill me...' Tails thought.

He saw the shadow, heard a snarl, and made a run for it. He ran as fast as he could, squeezing his plushie, when he tripped on a tree root and dropped it. He got up and kept running until he heard his heart pounding too fast, and fell to the floor exhausted. Suddenly, the whole forest seemed to come alive with demonic life and Tails passed out.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

In the morning, Sonic woke and stretched saying,

"See, Tails? Everything turned out o– Tails?"

Sonic looked around the campsite and got a little bit confused.

"Where are you, buddy?"

He saw Tails' pillow and blanket, but nothing else. He ran to Knuckles and said,

"Have you seen Tails?"

"Um, no. Why?"

"Because he's missing and it's all because of your stupid story!"

"Hey, he chose to believe them." Sonic paused

"Were you at our campsite last night?"

"Yeah, for like, 1 minute."

"Why?"

"I was gonna apologize to Tails, but he flipped when I shook him to see if he was still awake. So I hid. Then he slept next to you and I started leaving when I heard your stomach growl. I ran off, and that was that."

"Did you see him leave?"

"No."

"Well, we need to find him."

"I need to watch the master emerald."

"I don't care."

"I'll send a search party, how's that?"

"Fine."

"Good, now go away."

With no more words said, Sonic bolted off and looked around for signs of his furry friend.


	2. Enter Huck

Tails woke, and looked around. He was in the middle of a forest and his knee and body were scraped up.

"SONIC!!!" He yelled, but all he got was an echo.

He yelled again, and sighed. He sat on a rock with his head on his hands and felt a tear fall.

"Hey, Shorty. Why're you crying?" Somebody asked.

"I'm lost." Tails muttered

"How'd you get lost?"

"I was stupid."

"Hey, cheer up!"

"Why should I?" They paused.

"You can come with me if you want."

Tails looked up, and saw an orangish echidna that looked kinda like a nicer, younger, Knuckles. But Tails was so deep in the forest, he could barley make out that little detail, if anything.

Tails wiped his eyes and the echidna made a move to Tails making him draw back in a bit of fear.

"There's no need to be afraid! I wont–"

"Sonic told me not to talk to strangers."

"Well, my name's Huck. What's yours?"

"I'm Miles Prower. But you can call me 'Tails'. I guess we're not strangers, anymore..."

Huck smiled. "Well, Tails... I don't know what happened, but you got yourself in a bit of a situation. Wanna come with me?"

"Ummm... I don't think–"

"Come on, I promise I wont hurt you. If you don't come with me, there'll be no telling how lost you'll be!"

Huck held out a hand, and Tails paused then grabbed it. Huck helped Tails up and out of the forest, and looked at his new friend.

"Why're you so worked up?" Huck asked

Tails explained the story thus far, and Huck nodded.

"Oh, I see. Don't worry. I don't think anything's gonna get you."

"I don't know why I'm so scared."

Huck put an arm around Tails' shoulders and said,

"Relax, Tails. You'll be fine. Nothing's gonna get you, I promise."

Tails looked down and muttered, "I hope."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Taiiiiiillllllllllsssss!!!!" Sonic hollered.

He ran from tree to tree in the forest, but still couldn't find so much as a hint of his furry friend. Suddenly he saw something on the floor and paused to pick it up. It was Tails' Sonic plushie.

"Tails." Sonic said, quietly. He saw a tree root, and figured Tails had ran and tripped, dropping his plushie.

"Tails!" He yelled again.

Sonic started getting worried. 'What was Tails running from? I sure hope he's ok...'

He ran forward trying to retrace Tails' steps, and thought, 'I hope nothing happened to him.'

Then he continued running and praying nothing bad had happened to his Tails.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Huck got Tails situated, and sat him on a rock. When Tails calmed down, Huck decided to introduce Tails to his friends.

"Tails, this is Max, Tom, Mark, and James."

Tails raised his hand like a kid in school making Huck laugh.

"Yes?" Tails put his hand down.

"No offense... I mean you guys are really cool and all, but... wasn't Knuckles the last of the echidnas?"

"Huh? Oh, no. We just had him tell everybody that to get some peace and quiet."

"Oh. Well, in that case, it's a pleasure to meet all of you."

Mark went to Tails and stared at him inquisitively.

"Huck tells me you were scared by the "Legends of Angel Island"?" Tails blushed

"Umm..."

"Look, kid. We tell those stories to n00bs just to freak them out."

"Wait... what?"

"Who told you those stories?"

"Kn-knuckles..."

"Knuckles?! You mean the master emerald tweaker?!" Tom butted in, who'd only vaguely been paying attention until that particular moment.

"Yeah!" Tails said. Tom laughed.

"Kid, you've been PUNKED!" He said. Tails blushed.

"That is so messed up..."

"You know what? I say we get him back."James said

"An excellent idea, James." Said Tom.

"But... how do we do that?" Tails asked

Everybody smiled at him.

"With a bit of genius, my foxy friend." said Max


	3. Conspiracy

Knuckles lay down in front of the master emerald, feeling the warm sun beat gently on his body. Suddenly, he felt a gust of wind and looked to see Sonic worried.

"Where's Tails?" Knuckles asked.

"All I found was this..." Sonic took out the plushie

"I dunno... maybe he went home."

"I already looked there! I've looked literally everywhere, and still can't –"

"All you ever do is complain! Fine, you know what? I'll go look for pipsqueak. You don't move from guard. Got it?" Sonic folded his arms.

"Whatever."

"Good. I'll be back."

Knuckles left and stopped, watching the sunset. 'It's gonna be hard in the dark... but I do owe it to the kid to make sure that he's okay.' Knuckles thought.

He walked into the forest and looked around, cautiously. Almost halfway in, he heard footsteps and turned.

"Tails?"He asked

Then he heard footsteps behind him again, and got a little nervous. He saw a shadow run from one tree to another and ran to it.

"Tails! Quit playing! Sonic is worried!"He yelled. But nothing happened. The forest was almost completely dark, and he proceeded walking forward. Suddenly, something grabbed his ankle and pulled him to the floor. Knuckles struggled, then gasped as he saw another figure on the floor. It was Tails. And he looked almost dead.

"Kn-knuckles..." Tails said weakly reaching out for him.

Knuckles struggled and fought off the person holding his ankle. When he was free he went to grab Tails, but gasped as he saw Tails was gone. Knuckles gasped as he felt his heart start to race and started forward trying to ignore it. He saw a face in the shadows of the trees staring at him, and gasped, falling back in shock. Suddenly he heard,

"Knuckles? Is that you?"

He jumped up and turned, seeing Tails run to him. Knuckles grinded his teeth and darted to Tails grabbing his wrist tightly and saying,

"Where were you?!"

"I-I was lost! I was scared! So they helped me–"

"Who?"

"My new friends. Wanna meet–"

"No. Shut-up, you're coming with me."

"Knuckles, why're you so–"

"I SAID SHUT-UP!" Knuckles roared, scaring the kit into silence.

Tails sighed and hung his head as Knuckles tightened his grip on Tails' wrist, and practically dragged Tails out of the forest to the master emerald. They saw Sonic staring blankly at the plushie by the emerald. Knuckles aggressively thrust Tails to Sonic, and Sonic looked up.

"Tails!"

"Sonic! I was so scared!"

"I was so worried!"

They hugged, and Sonic ran his fingers through Tails' fur, almost as if he couldn't believe Tails was actually there. Then they let go and Sonic said,

"I told you not to believe those stories..."

"I'm Sorry, Sonic."

Knuckles zoned out, and looked back at the forest. He remembered Tails on the floor, and the thing grabbing his ankle and shivered.

"... Knuckles was too mad for me to explain how I survived." Tails said.

"Mad? Why was he mad?" Tails shrugged.

"He was just really mad and twitchy."

Sonic looked at Knuckles and Knuckles stubbornly folded his arms.

"What?" He said

"Is there something you want to talk about?"

"No." Knuckles snapped.

"Right... Tails you think you could give us a minute?"

"How long?"

"Come back in an hour."

"Yes, Sonic."

Tails flew off and Sonic said,

"What's up, Knux?"

"Nothing, Sonic."

"Tell me..." Knuckles told sonic what happened, and Sonic gave out a holler.

"Nice try, Knux. You can't get me like you got Tails."

"I'm serious!"

"Right... Heh. Looks like you fell victim to your own stories!"

"But those were just fake legends! Campfire tales!" Sonic shrugged.

"Maybe they are, but you scared yourself silly!"

"I'm not scared!"

"Hey, it's all right to admit you're scared. Everybody gets scared some–"

"I'm not scared! Fear is just an obstacle. I never have and never will feel it."

At this Sonic raised an eyebrow, folded his arms, and leaned on a tree.

"Oh really?"

"YES!"

"All right... go for a walk in the forest. Alone."

"Right now?"

"Mm-hmm."

"No."

"Ooh, is Knuckles scared?"

"Never! I just have to watch that emerald."

"I got it, Knux. Why don't you go prove yourself?"

"Fine, I will."

"Fine, go."

Knuckles looked at the forest biting his lip, and Sonic tapped his foot.

"I'm waiiiiiitiiiinng..." Sonic teased.

"Hmph."

Knuckles looked back at Sonic, then stook up his nose, walking to the forest.

'There's nothing in here... I've been running through the forest my whole life. I know everything about it. Those images were just my mind playing tricks on me...' Knuckles thought.

Though even he couldn't convince him that the situation was all in his head because he knew it'd been too real. 'Whatever it was, I'm going to get to the bottom of this.'


	4. Scrape your Knuckles, grab some Tails

Tails flew to the eastern part of the woods, and landed, looking around. Suddenly somebody pulled him into a bush, covered his mouth, and pulled him somewhere. He started panicking and struggling when suddenly the person let go and stepped into his view.

"Hi, Huck."

"Tails, that was AWESOME! I think we actually scared him!"

"I don't."

"Why?"

"Knuckles doesn't get scared."

"Everybody–"

"He once beat me up for saying it, okay?! He- he doesn't get scared!"

Huck went to Tails and looked him in the eye, putting an arm around his shoulders.

"Tails... are you scared of Knuckles?"

"Uh..."

"It's okay if you are."

Tails looked down and nodded.

"Why?"

Tails shrugged.

"Well, remember the look on his face? You scared him." Tails sniffled.

"No, I didn't."

"Yes you did. Especially when you got on the floor pretending to be dying... and that trick with the mirror to make him see another face was PRICELESS!" Tails blushed.

"Ye-yeah..."

"So basically, you just turned the tables." Tails stood up and said,

"You're right! He had it coming! I scared him, I scared the life outta him! And he doesn't have a clue that none of it was real! "

"There you go, Tails!"

"In fact, I betcha it'll take him forever to realize that this whole thing was a trick, and he bought into it like it was on clearance!"

"Umm, Tails?"

"Which part do you think got him the most? When Tom grabbed his ankle or the "Face" in the trees?" Huck cleared his throat.

"Ask him."

"Huh?"

Tails turned and saw Knuckles redder and madder than Tails had ever seen him, glowering down at the kit viciously.

"H-hi, Knuckles."

"Miles Prower, YOU did that stunt?" Tails swallowed, nervously.

"Yes." Knuckles laughed and lunged at Tails saying,

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!"

Tails screamed and Huck said,

"You don't need to be such a bad sport! You did the same to him!"

Knuckles pinned Tails' shoulders to the ground, and looked at Huck.

"Shut-up, or you're next." He snapped.

Tails squirmed, kicked Knuckles in the stomach, pushed himself out of Knuckles' grasp, and ran from the infuriated echidna.

"Hey get back here! Or are you gonna run to Sonic?"

"I'm not running from you, Knuckles."

"Then let's fight." Tails got nervous.

"F- fight?"

"Yup."

Knuckles ran to Tails, and Tails flew into a tree. Knuckles punched it down, and caught Tails before he hit the floor. He aggressively threw Tails to the floor, and grabbed his Tails, dragging the barely conscious kit down a rocky road out of the forest, walking fast enough to where he couldn't get up or away. (A/N I do not hate Tails. I actually adore him, but I was in a bad mood when I wrote this so poor Tails suffers a lot.)

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

As Knuckles dragged Tails he began to think. 'Great. He's gonna squeal, I know it...'

He looked at Tails and saw how hard he was trying not to cry and stay conscious. Knuckles felt a rush of guilt as he looked down at the fox, and sighed. He stopped walking, picked up Tails and Tails weakly looked up at him.

"I- I- I'm sorry, Knuckles." Tails choked out weakly, then he passed out.

Now Knuckles felt really guilty. 'Maybe I was too hard on him... he didn't mean anything. After all, he is just a kid..." He left the forest cradling Tails, and went to the master emerald seeing Sonic was gone. Knuckles gasped, dropped Tails, and yelled,

"SONIC!!!!!"

He felt a gust of wind and saw Sonic ahead of him saying,

"Yes?"

"You ditched the emerald!"

"No I didn't."

"You weren't here, were you?"

"Sure I was. I just got bored and started running laps. You seem normal again."

"The whole thing was a prank."

"From who?"

Knuckles opened his mouth to say, "Tails" but realized how pathetic that'd sound and said,

"Uh... A group of crazy echidnas."

"Is that Tails?" Sonic asked pointing to the fallen shadow.

"Yup." Sonic picked Tails up and said,

"I'm gonna tuck him in. Bye, Knux."

"Bye."


	5. Forgive and forget

Tails woke under his blanket with his plushie by his head. It was a beautiful morning, and he stretched, gasping as he felt an antagonizing pain in his side and a headache to top it off.

He noticed his stomach had drag marks and his tails felt like they'd been ripped off.

'My whole body feels so beaten... what on earth happened?' he thought.

"Morning bro! How'd you–" Sonic cut himself off.

"What happened to you?" He finished.

"Huh?" Tails asked.

"Your face and stomach... did you get into a fight?"

"He got attacked by a crazy echidna." somebody said.

Tails looked and smiled, brightly as he saw Huck.

"Huck!" He exclaimed. He got up and gave Huck a hug, then guided him to Sonic.

"Huck, this is Sonic. My best friend in the whole planet! Sonic, this is Huck. He helped me find my way out of the forest." Tails said.

"Nice to meet you." Huck said.

"You too..." Sonic said.

"Sonic, is it all right if I steal Tails for a while?"

"For what?"

"To get him cleaned up is one thing, but to hang out, too."

"Go for it."

Tails gave Sonic a hug and followed Huck to a lake saying,

"Why do you think Sonic was staring at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"The living dead."

"Have you even looked at yourself?!"

They got to the water, and Tails looked in gasping at his reflection. His face and chin were scratched up, and he had a bloody lip.

"What happened to me?" Tails asked, quietly.

"Knuckles found out about the prank."

Tails closed his eyes as memories slowly came back to him, then he stared into the water for a second and said,

"Huck... why didn't you help me?"

"I ran off to find Max and the others. By the time we came back, he was dragging you out of the forest by your tails. Sorry, but we tried."

"It's not your fault. It's okay."

Tails cleaned himself off and leaned against a tree staring blankly ahead.

"I can't believe Knuckles did that to me..."

"Well, your pretty strong."

"Huh?"

"He beat it out of you, and you didn't shed a tear. You just... took it. Sure you're a bad fighter, but... you're pretty strong." Tails blushed.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Let's go."

"Okay."

They got up and out of the forest and suddenly somebody said,

"Hey Tails." They looked and saw Knuckles who looked at Huck and said,

"Give us a minute."

"After last night?! No way!"

"It's okay, Huck. I can handle this." Tails said with a reassuring smile.

"Well, okay, then. But call me if you need me."

"Okay."

He turned to Knuckles after Huck left and said,

"Knuckles... how could you do this to me?"

"Do what?"

"Look at me! I'm beaten up, Knux! How could you do that?! It was one prank, just one stupid prank, and you beat me up for it?! It was based on your story! I didn't hurt you!"

"Calm down–"

"Why're you even so mad, anyways?! Nobody hurt you! We just scared you–"

"I DID NOT GET SCARED!!!!!!"

"Yes you did! Just admit it, already!"

"See, this is why I beat you up!"

"Because I scared you?"

"No, because you didn't! You and Sonic, all day calling me scared! I'm tired of it! I don't feel fear! I can't! I wont! And you are ANNOYING ME!"

"Join the crowd!"

"You don't–"

"YOU TRIED TO SCARED ME, TOO!!!!"

"I did!"

"You're right. But, at least I'm not too scared to admit it." Knuckles paused.

"Did you tell Sonic?"

"No, Knuckles. I didn't."

They stood in silence for a minute, and Knuckles sighed.

"I'm sorry I beat you up, Tails."

"Hmm?"

"You heard me."

"No, I mean... did you just apologize to me?"

"Did I stutter?"

"No..."

"Exactly." Tails sighed.

"Knuckles I'm–"

"Don't apologize. You did right before you passed out. That's good enough for me."

"But–"

"SHUT-UP!" Knuckles yelled, putting a fist in front of Tails. Tails looked down, and Knuckles slowly turned the fist to a open hand and said,

"Truce?" Knuckles asked. Tails looked up and smiled.

"Truce." He said, shaking Knuckles' hand.

"No, Tails... would you mind keeping this just between us 2?"

"Okay."

"That means don't tell Sonic."

"I know."

"You know, Just–"

"I get it, I get it."

"Good."

Then they nodded at each other and went their separate ways. Tails went to Huck who said,

"How'd it go?" Tails smiled and shrugged.

"He'll never change."

They laughed, and walked back to Sonic.

"Hey, bro! You look better. How do you feel?"

"Great!"

"Mind telling me what happened?"

"I was... attacked by a group of crazy echidnas."

"That seems to happen a lot, nowadays... whatever. Come on, Tails. Wanna gon for a jog?"

"Yeah! Later Huck!"

"Bye, Tails."

Then Sonic and Tails sped off and had fun the rest of the day.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

At night as the sun was setting, Tails stared blankly at the forest.

"Tails, are you okay?" Sonic asked.

Tails nodded.

"You aren't still scared are you? Wanna sleep next to me again?"

Tails shook his head and faced Sonic with a reassuring smile.

"I'll be fine, Sonic."

"You sure."

"Yeah. After all, it was just another stupid story."

"True... night, then."

"Night, Sonic."

Then Sonic put out the campfire and they went to bed.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

In the morning, Sonic and Tails packed their stuff and said goodbye to Knuckles and Huck. They turned to leave, and Tails paused and took one last look at the forest. It still gave him an eerie feeling and a lot had happened in it, the past 3 days. Suddenly he felt something grb him on the shoulder and jumped. He turned and caught his breath saying,

"Sonic! You scared the life outta me!"

"You coming or what?!"

Sonic sped across the bridge from Angel Island and said,

"I'm WAIIIIIIITTTTTTTIIIIINNNNGGGGG!!"

Tails laughed and flew after him.

"You don't still believe those stories, do you?" Sonic asked.

"Nope! And remember, those weren't just stories... they were..."

"The Legends of Angel Island." they synchronized.

Then they paused, exchanged glances, and laughed all the way home.

The End.

Rated "S" for "Stoopidafied."


End file.
